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Austria's voestalpine demands EU steel tariff countermeasures and talks with US

The Austrian steelmaker, voestalpine, called on Wednesday for the European Union to take immediate countermeasures as well as trade negotiations with the U.S. in response to the steel tariffs announced earlier this week by President Donald Trump.

Herbert Eibensteiner, CEO of voestalpine, said in a recent press conference that the American tariffs would certainly affect trade flows. He added that this shift "would be evident" over the next few months.

The comments echo those of Aperam in France, which called on Brussels on Tuesday to intervene and curb imports should the new U.S. Tariffs encourage companies to ship to the EU.

Eibensteiner stated that he was not the only person who urged the European Union to respond to this announcement. He called on the executive of the bloc to begin discussions on how to handle future reciprocal deliveries between the U.S. and the EU.

Trump raised steel and aluminum import tariffs by a substantial 25% on Monday, an action that was condemned by the EU and Canada.

The EU announced on Tuesday that it will respond to the new tariffs with "firm countermeasures proportionate to their severity".

Voestalpine announced a decline in its third-quarter earnings on Wednesday and reduced its profit forecast for the full year, due to a weak European automotive market. (Reporting and editing by Milla Nissi; Kirsti Knolle and Marleen Kaesebier)

(source: Reuters)